Recording apparatus



Nov. 8,| 1938.

WM@ WM INI/ENT R.

A TTORNEYS.

Patented Nov. 8, 19338 UNITI-:D STATES RECORDING APPARATUS Joseph William Miles, London, England, asaignor to International Business Machines Corporation, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application In 3 Claims.

The present invention relates to recording ap-v paratus.- moreparticularly to apparatus for recording the working and non-working time of each oi' a number of machines.

It is desirable in any manufacturing industry to use the production machinery at its maximum inox-der that the factory may operate efliciently. To do this lt is necessary to keep a record of idle and operating time of the various machines in order to facilitate the supervision of these machines. It is desirable ,to obtain the records from a plurality of machines at some central location. 'Biere are various machines at the present time which are designed to accomplish this, but they are generally handicapped, because of various obstacles, such as; (l) cost of suitable wire circuits having a line resistance sumciently low to prevent undue voltage drop therein, 2) the cost of providing electromagnetic relays or'the like for (each of the production machines and, (3) the space taken up by a plurality of the electromagnetic relays and associated stamping means. 1f thev normal commercial current supply of 110 to 220 volts is used in order to overcome the objection of line losses, the cost of properly insulated wiring circuit and contacts on the machines suitably' insulated for this voltage, more than oi'isets the disadvantage that it seeks to overcome. It istherei'ore an'object of this invention to provide a recorder for producing a graphic record which will be operated on a low voltage system. Another object is to provide a recorder operabing on suiilciently low voltage and low iiow ofA current to require only comparatively cheap wiring and contact structures.

Still another object is to provide a recording apparatus for graphically recording time without the employment of electromagnetic devicjw.

A still further object is to provide an ap-V paratus for recording time on a chart without the use ol type printing mechanism or ink ap' y plying mechanism.

A still further object is to provide a recording device for recording on a chart by electrolytic means.

Other objects and advantages of this invention will be apparent from the specicaticn and the accompanying drawing which shows one embodiment or this invention and wherein the figure in the drawing represents a side elevation or the recording mechanism.

Referring to the preferred embodiment as shown in the drawing, an electrical contact associated with each of the production machines of which a record is to be kept may be arranged October 4,1934, Serial No. 746,866 Great Britain October 5, 1933 as indicated at 30 which shows a 4-pole single throw knife switch` which may be used to start and stop the machine in question. Two of the, blades of said four pole switch serve to connect the driving motor 3l to the supply line 32, the 5 other two blades serving to connect the secondary or low tension side of a transformer 33 to the recording apparatus. In the drawing, A represents a. terminal to which is connected one of the individual wires 10 running from the machine to the recorder. The other wire which as suggested may be a common return, from all machines to the recorder is connected to the terminal B.

f The terminal A is connected by wire I to a 15 finger or needle 2, which is one of a large number of such needles carried by a frame 3, said frame being movable in a vertical direction in a manner to be described later. These needles are preferably arranged side by side adjacent the periphery 20 of drum ,i3 and longitudinal to it. The description hereinafter given applies to operation oi uone of these needles but it will be understood that all other needles oi the set operate in an identical manner. 2 Frame 3 is connected to bell crank i pivotally mounted at 5 and biased in a counterclockwise direction by the weight of the frame 3 which extends the entire length of the drum. Due to this biasing action the vend of the bell crank opposite 30 to the frame 3 rests against a cam 6. Cam 6 is fixedv to a shaft 1 which is connected to a suitable time controlmechanism such as a clock movement or an AC time controlled motor (not shown) so that shaft l is caused to revolve clock- 35 wise continuously at the rate of one revolution per minute. A` cam 8 is also xed to the shaft l and cooperates with a cam wiper I0 xed to a lever 9 which ispivotally mounted at il and serves to raise and lower the lever 9 for each 49 revolution of said cam, ,said lever being biased in a counterclockwise direction by its normal weight.' Pivotally mounted at one end of the lever 9 is a pawl i2 which coacts with a ratchet wheel |20, pivotally mounted at i4 and iixed to 45 pinion gear Ha. The pinion gear ila meshes with a gear i5 which in turn meshes with a gear i6 which iaiixed to the drum I3.

Thus the raising and lowering of the arm 9 imparts an intermittent uni-directional rotary 59 motion to the ratchet wheel im and thus to the drum i3.

The drum i3 carries a sheet of paper i3d impregnated with a chemical substance which, when in a damp condition, changes color, on the. 55

- thereby moistening the paper.

passage therethrough of an electric current by electrolytic action. Suitable chemicals for this purpose are potassium iodide with starch or ferro-prussiate of potash.

It is necessary that the chemically impregnated paper should be damp at the moment when an electric current is to pass through it and for this purpose there is provided a roller I1 covered with a suitable fabric and mounted on a link which in turn is pivotally mounted to one end of an arm I9, the other end of which is pivotally mounted at 20 and is biased in a counterclockwise direction by a spring I9a. Mounted on the lever I9 is a cam wiper 20a which cooperates with a cam 2i fixed to the shaft 1 so that the rotation of the cam 2i oscillates the lever I9 back and forth. The roller I1 normally rests upon a strip of fabric 22 which is supported on a table 22a running transversely of the machine and suitably supported by the framework thereof. The fabric 22 may be of any suitable material having good capillary qualities and extends into a tank 23 containing water. Upon movement of cam 2i through approximately 90 from the position shown, roller I1 travels from the position shown in the drawing towards the left until it touches the surface of paper Ia At this time as will be seen from the drawing the frame 3 is in its raised position by virtue of the motion of cam 6.

In addition to the needles 2 carried by the frame 3 there is provided an angle bar 24 extending transversely of the machine and pivotally supported on an insulated portion 25 of the frame 3. 'I'he vertical arm of this bar is parallel to the needles and makes contact with the paper the same and will then recede.

I 3a, at the sarne time that the needles 2 make contact, when frame 3 is lowered. The bar 24 is connected to return wire 26 which leads to terminal B aforementioned.

Each needle 2 is associated with some machine and is permanently connected by wire I to one of the blades of the four pole 'switch 30 associated with the machine, this last mentioned contact being closed whenthe machine is running and open when it is not.

If the shaft 1 is rotating, roller I1 will travel to the left on the surface of the fabric 22 till it touches the surface of the paper I3a, dampening Frame 3 will then descend carrying the needle 2, and bar 24 with it so that they touch the damp surface of paper I3a. If the contact III, to which needle 2 is connected, is closed, lthus showing that the machine at which this needle corresponds is running, a circuit will be completed through the needle 2, the dampened paper I4 and bar 24. The consequent electrolytic action upon the chemical substance with which the paper is impregnated will cause a change of color'at the point of contacto! needle 2 with the dampened paper Ila. After this has taken place, frame 2 rises and the drum I3 is rotated by means of the f action of cam 4 on the lever l as previously described. Since the record upon the sheet Ila will agree with the shape of the end of needle 2 it will be possible to obtain records in the form oi" printed letters, figures or other symbols by forming the ends of the needles to the shape desired. In this way -an accurate graphic record is obtained of the time and/or duration of the working of each of a number of machines and of the time during which each has been idle.

A comparatively low voltage only is necessary to produce the requisite electrolytic effect referred to above.

While the fundamental novel feature of the invention as applied to a single modification has been shown and described and pointed out, it will beunderstood that various omissions and substitutions and changes in the form and details of the device illustrated and in its operation may be made by those' skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention. I intend to be limited therefore only as indicated by the scope of the following claims.

What is claimed is as follows:

1. In a time recording device, record receiving means comprising a chemically impregnated chart, a timing device for moving said chart at a.

periodically moistening said record receiving.

means over a predetermined area, contact members and means for periodically impinging said members against said moistened area of the record receiving means in timed relation to said moistening means, and means for causing a flow of current through said contact members and said moistened area to eifect a record on said record receiving means.

3. In a time recording device, record receiving means including a chemically impregnated chart, a timing device for moving said chart, means for moistening said chart including a reservoir for holding s. liquid, a moisture conducting element extending fro'm said reservoir to a point adjacent to said chart, a roller movable along said moisture conducting element and in contact therewith for picking up moisture from said element onto said roller, means controlled by said timing device for moving said roller along said moisture conducting element and into contact with said chart to transfer moisture 'from said element to a portion of said chart; and current conducting means movable Vby said timing device into contact with the moistened portion of said chart to eifect a recording operation thereon by electrolytic action of the chemical in said chart'.

.lossen WILLIAM murs. 

